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A review by laynemandros
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
5.0
Review: In a Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
TW: abuse, sexual abuse, relationship violence
“After all, you don’t need to die to leave a mark of psychic pain. If anyone is living in the Dream House now, he or she might be seeing the echo of you.”
This book was a fucking masterpiece. There’s no other way to describe how Machado thrusts the reader into the visceral and volatile experience of being in an abusive relationship. Machado takes the reader through a series of vignettes, most are about her life experiences others are about the legality, history, and complexity of abuse in queer relationships. The reader sees Machado grapple with her grief, guilt, anger, and fear centered around her abuser and the Dream House.
This struck me to my core because so much of what she said brought up an extremely emotional reaction. The way she describes abuse, it’s subtlety and the nuances of an abusive relationship, brought up memories of my own experiences. The way she constructs her vignettes, the way she writes is powerful. One vignette that struck me deeply was Dream House as Choose Your Own Adventure. This vignette mirrors the structure of a choose your own adventure book but instead Machado is forcing the reader to choose how to react to relationship abuse. She forces the reader to understand, by flipping back and forth through the pages, that breaking the cycle of abuse can be almost impossible when you are immersed in it. This vignette gave me goose bumps because I remember feeling this way—every decision you make is calculated. How will they react? Will they yell? Will they hit you? Will you deserve it?
There is nothing else I can say except read it. Read this book. It was truly moving and I will think about it for a long time. Machado is a masterful writer.
Overall: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆/5
TW: abuse, sexual abuse, relationship violence
“After all, you don’t need to die to leave a mark of psychic pain. If anyone is living in the Dream House now, he or she might be seeing the echo of you.”
This book was a fucking masterpiece. There’s no other way to describe how Machado thrusts the reader into the visceral and volatile experience of being in an abusive relationship. Machado takes the reader through a series of vignettes, most are about her life experiences others are about the legality, history, and complexity of abuse in queer relationships. The reader sees Machado grapple with her grief, guilt, anger, and fear centered around her abuser and the Dream House.
This struck me to my core because so much of what she said brought up an extremely emotional reaction. The way she describes abuse, it’s subtlety and the nuances of an abusive relationship, brought up memories of my own experiences. The way she constructs her vignettes, the way she writes is powerful. One vignette that struck me deeply was Dream House as Choose Your Own Adventure. This vignette mirrors the structure of a choose your own adventure book but instead Machado is forcing the reader to choose how to react to relationship abuse. She forces the reader to understand, by flipping back and forth through the pages, that breaking the cycle of abuse can be almost impossible when you are immersed in it. This vignette gave me goose bumps because I remember feeling this way—every decision you make is calculated. How will they react? Will they yell? Will they hit you? Will you deserve it?
There is nothing else I can say except read it. Read this book. It was truly moving and I will think about it for a long time. Machado is a masterful writer.
Overall: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆/5